Beijing Yushi Space Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. (Yushi Space) announced the completion of a 500 million yuan Series A financing round on May 18, 2026. This marks the company's fifth funding round since its establishment 15 months ago, bringing the total capital raised to 10 billion yuan.
This round was jointly led by Kunlun Capital and Gaorong Capital, with participation from C&D Emerging, Blue Lake Capital, Honghui Fund, Orient Securities Capital, Zhentai Capital, and Gengxin Capital. Industrial investors, including Zijin Mining Group, an internet strategic investment institution, and a smart device industry player, also joined the round. Existing investors such as Hillhouse Capital, Cornerstone Capital, Qiancheng Capital, and Zhisheng Ruiying made follow-on investments across multiple rounds.
According to Yushi Space, the newly raised funds will be primarily allocated to rocket assembly and testing, validation of the "chopstick" recovery technology, rocket production capacity expansion, and team building, ensuring support for the subsequent scaled operations of the AS-1 rocket.
Founded in early 2025, the company's founder and CEO, Tang Wen, holds a doctorate from Tsinghua University's School of Aerospace Engineering and previously served as deputy chief designer for the pressurization and delivery system at the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, having been involved in the development of the Long March-5 and Long March-7 rocket models. CTO Tian Jichao, a Ph.D. in aircraft design from Harbin Institute of Technology, worked for 12 years in the overall design department of the First Academy, contributing to the development of the Long March-8 and Long March-2C liquid rockets and being a member of the "Yu Menglun Team." CSO Zhu Xinwen has aerospace work experience in both China and the United States and established the country's first stainless steel rocket structure pilot production line.
As of May 2026, the company's team has grown to over 200 employees, with R&D personnel accounting for more than 70%. The team is expected to expand to 350–400 members by the end of the year.
According to the company's disclosed plans, three rockets will be manufactured in 2026 to ensure the maiden flight in the first half of 2027, with commercial operations set to begin in the second half of 2027. To achieve this goal, the company must complete four core tasks within 2026: ground joint testing of the full-scale capture arm prototype, assembly and testing of the first-stage booster for the maiden flight rocket, static fire testing of the first-stage booster, and full rocket assembly and testing.
On January 26, 2026, Tang Wen stated at the inaugural "AS-VISION" Annual Ecosystem Conference that Yushi Space aims to become the "Android of space"—building an open, shared, low-cost space transportation infrastructure platform rather than a closed system, empowering global space exploration and innovative applications.
Yushi Space is reportedly the only commercial rocket company in China adopting the technical route of "stainless steel rocket body + liquid oxygen methane propulsion + chopstick capture arm recovery." Its debut AS-1 launch vehicle is approximately 70 meters long, with a takeoff weight of 570 tons and a body diameter of 4.2 meters. Its payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) is 15.7 tons in expendable mode and 10 tons in reusable mode.
In terms of cost, the company claims that its self-developed stainless steel rocket body costs about one-tenth that of traditional aluminum alloy bodies, with the fastest production cycle for a single body being approximately one month.
Regarding production capacity, Yushi Space continues to expand based on its "one center, two bases" strategic layout. The northern R&D center has grown to over 4,000 square meters, and the newly operational electrical integrated testing center provides critical support for rocket electrical system validation. The rocket development and assembly base in Hunan has partially commenced operations and is expected to be fully delivered in the third quarter of 2026, with an annual production capacity of eight rockets upon reaching full capacity. Construction of the avionics center and the ground joint testing base for the capture arm has also begun, further enhancing the end-to-end layout from design and manufacturing to testing, orbital delivery, and recovery and reuse.
For future plans, the company stated that within the next 3–5 years, it aims to reduce the launch cost per kilogram for its 4.2-meter-diameter rocket to below 20,000 yuan, achieving industry leadership. In 5–10 years, it plans to advance toward a 7-meter-diameter rocket with recoverable first and second stages, further reducing the cost to 10,000 yuan per kilogram. In the long term, the company aims to create an open platform called "Space Android," enabling space infrastructure to serve applications across multiple industries.
According to forecasts by Euroconsult, the global commercial rocket launch market is expected to expand continuously from 2025 to 2035, with reusable medium-to-large rockets likely becoming mainstream. However, currently, only a few companies globally, such as SpaceX, have achieved mature orbital-level recovery. Chinese commercial rocket companies are in a critical window of transitioning "from breakthrough to mass production."
Kunlun Capital, an investor in this round, noted that commercial aerospace is a long-term endurance race, emphasizing the importance of a steadfast strategic vision, a complete engineering闭环 from design to production, and a team capable of enduring challenges. Based on this philosophy, Kunlun Capital remains optimistic about the prospects of China's commercial aerospace sector, believing that China possesses the world's strongest talent pool and industrial system in aerospace, fully capable of transitioning from catching up to leading in the field of reusable rockets.